Just my $00.02....
My background in the bass world started way back in my school years; I actually started out playing clarinet in 4th grade, but in 7th grade the teacher needed someone to play upright bass. Since I was the tallest in the class, he suggested I give it a try.
He pretty much put me in a small practice room with the bass, the bow, a learning book, and masking tape across the fingerboard where the fingerings were, and told me to learn; at that age, no one said it was going to be difficult, so it wasn't!
At the first pluck and bow draw, I was hooked.
Whilst in H.S., my family moved and the new school didn't have an orchestra, and contrabass doesn't lend itself too well to marching band (I did offer to try though!). Around that same time, I think I was in Sears and came across a Harmony P bass copy and bought and loved it. Only much later did I find out that the string height should have been adjusted.
I put it down after graduation, but never lost my love for it. Especially after picking up J. Leitham's "The Southpaw" CD! in 1994 and Michael Manring's Unusual Weather in 1998.
P.S. I know those aren't the real release dates; those are the years that I bought the music (yea, I'm old-school, I still legally buy music)
My intro.. 
